A trip to the Malware Museum: computer viruses as animations, taunts and art

Code red … an exhibit from the Malware Museum

They may have crippled computers and cost billions, but the computer viruses unleashed in the 1980s and 1990s could be provocative works of art, too. Rather than the silent-but-deadly viral attacks of today, the attention-seeking malware of yesteryear featured animations, taunts and even games that would flash up on your computer screen as the virus took hold.

High art … another Malware Museum classic

Computer historian Jason Scott, who has also created a museum of bulletin board messages, has now put a selection of the viruses (rendered harmless) online in the Malware Museum.

Crash course … vintage glitching from the Malware Museum

Many of these come from the personal archives of Mikko Hypponen, the long-serving chief research scientist at antivirus company F-Secure. The viruses often reflect the adolescent character of their creators, from the trippy LSD.com, with its rainbow plasma effects, to the marijuana leaf and “legalise cannabis” message of Coffshop.com.

Zoned out … a trip into the Malware Museum archive

Perhaps they are only funny because the museum enables us to watch them without our computers being destroyed. The finest example of being taunted by some spotty, virus-inventing script kiddie must be the Casino virus, which both Hypponen and Scott have cited as their personal favourite.

Feeling lucky? … the Casino virus in the Malware Museum

“I have just DESTROYED the FAT on your Disk!!” announces the incoming virus, before inviting the computer user to win back their data via a game of jackpot. Given five chances to bring up three “£” signs by pressing any key, the virus concludes this presumably futile game by announcing: “HA HA!! You assholes. You’ve lost: say Bye to your Balls”.